Meet Tracy Stevens

We recently connected with Tracy Stevens and have shared our conversation below.

Tracy, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
I found this question interesting. The truth is, I never heard of confidence or self esteem until I was in my 20’s. I’ve always known I was different but the people around me, family and friends, always made me feel special. When I think back, I grew up in a multicultural atmosphere. My best friend was mixed, Asian and Black. The kids up the street that we played with every day were also mixed, White and Black. The corner store’s owner was Jewish and many of the kids across the street were black.

I even played with my Native American and Latino neighbors. Self esteem or confidence wasn’t brought up. We saw each other as equals. We never judged each other. I guess you can say I grew up in confidence.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
There are different levels of me. The brand is Stray Ink and it represents different products: Fine Arts, Graphic Arts, ArtWear (my artwork on clothing) ArtWare (my artwork on household items) and Video Editing. Right now, I am promoting my unisex funderwear (fun to wear) line. I’m about to restart my YouTube podcast, Baltimore Basics. Here I interview successful Baltimoreans. It’s my way of getting rid of the whole, “Wire” sigma. Baltimore is a beautiful city filled with great people.

I have an art show in October at Davenport Imports and Art Gallery which is located in Baltimore MD. Here, I am announcing my fine arts name change. Instead of Tracy Stevens, I am going to be known as Tracy Renee. Renee is my middle name. As I evolve, my product must evolve. I will be showing and selling my Neighborhood Series. This series is extremely personal for me. It’s a snapshot of my childhood. A much simpler, colorful, impactful time of my life.
My career is making a turn as well. I work for a nonprofit called Maryland Citizens for the Arts. This was a God send. my job now combines my love for the arts, my humanitarianism and life’s passion, life is good.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
As I look back on my life, I see that my parent gave me no boundaries. I didn’t even know I was an artist. My artistic prowless was sparked by my love of reading. I remember reading books in the kindergarten, looking at the images and thinking, that’s not what I saw in my mind. This made me grab a pencil, a couple sheets of paper and draw what I thought the characters should look. lol Even when I gradated to book with little to no images, I would draw them. My imagination was crazy back then. I basically have no background in art. I never studied art, It was just something I could do. By the 4th grade, I knew I wanted to be an artist or work in an art based job.

The three most important things that shaped me were books, an imagination and belief in myself, even at an early age. As the teaching staff saw my talents, they gave me more art based classes. I have to give credit where credit is due.

Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
My challenges now include places to sell my artwork, finding my client, updating my website and, of course, me not being a billionaire. lol To some it up, I need help marketing myself. There’s nothing like someone swooping in and showing you with what you are missing.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Funderwear – Female: Hugh Williams, Male: Tracy Stevens Headshot: Impact Hub Art Photos: Tracy Stevens

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